...in that for many people, regardless of majority /minority demographics, a significant part of whatever group (ethnic, gender, fandom, whatever) identity they have is simply that they're Not Those Other People. (Heaven forfend, for gosh, those Others are Icky. Or sometimes woe and misery, considering how Vastly Superior they are to us unenlightened types, like wow man.)

Take away the ick/wow scale, and all you have is a value-undifferentiated pool of Otherness in which everyone is somebody else's version of Other. This is anathema for people with a pathological need to feel superior to everyone else at all times.